Trees Chapter 323 Minato: Becoming The Shinigami Requires Going Through Life-and-Death Trials

"Grandpa Sandaime, come here for a moment..."

Hiruzen casually took the gift Naruto handed him, then noticed his grandson also giving one to Tobirama.

"Nidaime, this is for you."

Both Hokage were momentarily stunned.

Hiruzen threw his head back and laughed twice, glancing at Minato and Kushina with a hint of smugness.

‘See...’

‘This child is still close to me.’

This made Kushina clench her fists, seemingly a bit jealous.

"Konohamaru...what is this?"

Tobirama held the box, turned his head and glanced at Hiruzen, and couldn't help but thought to himself.

‘That's not right...’

‘Is this brat scared of being beaten?’

‘Or did Saru make him send something to me as an apology?’

Feeling Tobirama's gaze, Hiruzen straightened his back even more, lifting his chin high.

He felt like he had never been this proud in his entire life.

"Of course, it’s blood pressure medication!"

"Nidaime, my grandfather is really stingy. He only gives you one bottle at a time."

"Don’t worry, as your big brother, I’ll definitely..."

The moment Hiruzen heard ‘blood pressure medication’, his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

‘Damn it!’

‘Did this grandson think blood pressure medicines were candy or something!?’

‘Medicine was still poison in large doses. How could taking too much of this stuff be good?!’

‘And he had the nerve to call me stingy?!’

Hiruzen was so furious he almost laughed.

He had been limiting the amount out of concern for his teacher, worried that Tobirama might end up in the same state as him...

Seeing Konohamaru was about to elevate himself to ‘big brother’ status, Hiruzen took a step back, dashed forward like a sprinter, and delivered a full-force kick to his unfilial grandson, sending him flying like a soccer ball.

Bang…

"Aaahhh!!"

The Hokage Tower trembled slightly, and soon after, everyone saw a Konohamaru-shaped hole in the wall.

"Saru."

"You’re paying for that."

After saying this, Tobirama picked up the blood pressure medication and turned back toward his office.

The scene left Minato and Kushina torn between laughter and exasperation.

They couldn’t tell if it was just their imagination...

But it felt like the people of Konoha were even more durable now than before.

Hiruzen had just kicked his grandson with absolutely no restraint… didn’t he worry about seriously injuring the kid?

"Grandpa Sandaime..."

"Come here, come here."

Naruto grabbed the furious Hiruzen and walked to the side, but Hiruzen thought about it carefully and suddenly became alert.

‘Wait a minute!’

‘Whenever Naruto called him like this, it was never for anything good!’

Hiruzen shot him a glance, then shakily pulled out a medicine bottle from his pocket, tilting his head back to shake a few pills into his mouth.

After struggling to swallow them, he finally felt a bit better.

Naruto waited a few minutes for the old man to recover before whispering about how Konohamaru was still scamming people online.

Sandaime expressed doubts about this. After all, he had personally seen Konohamaru send a breakup message to the Yondaime Raikage before deleting and blocking him…

Thinking of this, Hiruzen pulled out his phone, took out a pair of reading glasses from his pocket and put them on.

After opening the app, he searched for Yondaime Raikage's account and checked his friend feed...

[Strongest Nintaijutsu User: Another day of hard work, grateful to have you by my side.]

Snap…

Hiruzen took one look, then instantly smashed his phone to pieces.

"Bastard... this little bastard!!"

"I’ll... I’ll beat this brat to death!!"

Hiruzen immediately summoned Enma, transformed him into a staff, and charged toward the broken wall.

Originally, the crack in the wall was only Konohamaru-sized, but after Hiruzen smashed through it, the already damaged structure suffered even more.

"Saru!!!"

"Bring me the money tonight!!"

Tobirama, who had just stepped out of his office, felt like the sky was falling.

‘What the hell were these people doing?!’

‘The Hokage Tower hadn’t even been standing for half a day...’

‘And they’d already wrecked it again?!’

Tobirama's head was throbbing.

‘Just how many problems did the current Konoha have??’

Crash…

Another sound of wall breaking was heard.

"Tobirama, I'm back."

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about today?"

Hashirama stood amidst the broken wall, casually plucking out a splintered piece of wood from the cracks.

He remembered his younger brother saying there was a meeting today, so after beating up that red-nosed old geezer, he rushed straight back.

To his surprise, the old guy seemed to recognize him… he kept shouting Hashirama’s name while getting pummeled.

Hashirama didn’t pay him much mind. He clapped his hands, summoned a wooden golem, and proceeded to pound the guy into the ground.

Though...

Kind-hearted as he was, Hashirama spared the old man’s life, patting his cheek and warning him not to run his mouth online again.

Otherwise, he’d beat him up every time they crossed paths.

“Brother!!”

"Why can’t you go through the front door!?"

Tobirama clutched his chest with one hand and pointed at the half-collapsed wall with the other.

At this moment, he could taste something metallic in the back of his throat.

If he hadn’t forced himself to hold it in, he might’ve spat out a mouthful of blood right then and there.

"Huh?"

"Can't I just walk from here?"

Hashirama scratched his head, his expression a mix of innocence and confusion.

‘Earlier, I had clearly seen Saru and Konohamaru leaving through this exact spot.’

‘Why was it suddenly off-limits for me?’

"Tch…"

Tobirama's eyes were red and his hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

Tsunade, who had been standing to the side covering her face, took a deep breath. She stepped forward, and pulled out Tobirama’s blood pressure medicines from his coat pocket, forcing them into his mouth.

She couldn’t take it anymore.

‘But it's okay...’

‘Fortunately, I am not the Hokage....hahahahaha!!’

"Did I mess up again?"

Hashirama didn’t fully understand, but he could tell his little brother was furious.

He glanced at the gaping hole in the wall, then quickly used Wood Release to repair it.

Naruto's eyelids twitched as he watched.

‘Tsk...’

‘You know what, it was a good decision for Konohamaru to give that box of blood pressure medicines to old man Nidaime.’

"Naruto..."

"We’re about to leave."

Minato looked at Naruto for a while, his expression full of reluctance. After he finished speaking, he took out a wooden token with a hollow center from his pocket.

"You’ll probably find this useful."

Naruto took it, held it in his hand and observed it, and found that it contained a trace of Hogyoku’s power.

"This is?"

Kushina explained, "It was given by Sara. Apparently, it’s made from fragments of the Hogyoku’s scattered power. Everyone became Shinigami thanks to this thing."

Then, she explained how the token worked.

As long as one sticks the wooden token to their chest and slap it, their soul will be in a trance and they can hear the call of their own soul Zanpakuto.

If they pass the test, they can become a Shinigami, but if they fail...

Then, they would become a red-haired monster.

Minato slung an arm around his son’s shoulders, his expression suddenly becoming serious.

"But don’t underestimate the power of Shinigami."

"This thing is extremely dangerous..."

Minato rambled on and on about precautions, practically wishing he could write an entire guidebook for his son.

Kushina, who is standing beside them, also shared her experience of drawing out her Zanpakuto.

But Naruto, who was caught in the middle, felt a little overwhelmed after hearing what he heard.

So he just slapped the token against his chest.

Then, he saw a black Zanpakuto appeared in his mind.

The moment his spirit touched it, he pulled the Zanpakuto out effortlessly.

"Uh..."

"Is this what you are talking about?"

Minato: “???”

Kushina: “???”